Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman has given his feedback on key issues ranging from the recent comments made by Neymar regarding a reunion with Lionel Messi, the LaLiga title chances of rivals Atletico Madrid prior to a clash with Cadiz on Saturday and interim president Carlos Tusquets\u2019 admission that he would have sold Messi off in the summer had it been his call to do so.<\/p>\n
On tomorrow\u2019s match, Koeman said that he expects a Cadiz that will give Barca a \u201clot of the ball\u201d. \u201cThey seem to be having a hard time winning at home, but they\u2019re getting good results, and it\u2019s a tricky ground where we have to be focused to play at our best level and score,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Unavoidably, Koeman was queried on comments from ex-Barca star Neymar, who said midweek that his reunion with Lionel Messi must happen next season one way or another, which has inevitably sparked rumors of a switch to PSG for the Argentine. To his credit, Koeman didn\u2019t give away much on the sensitive matter.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know Leo\u2019s situation,\u201d he said. \u201cIf there\u2019s one person who can decide their future, it\u2019s Leo. I\u2019m not interested in comments from the outside \u2013 only those inside the club \u2013 which don\u2019t help us to have the peace of mind to win matches. We can\u2019t control outsiders, but from the inside it\u2019s different.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a club you should always try to have the best players here,\u201d Koeman quipped, when asked if he would like Neymar to return to Catalonia.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t like to talk individually, but as a player, as a coach, I made it clear that I like to watch the world\u2019s best. If they both end up at the same club, even better,\u201d Koeman clarified.<\/p>\n
Interim president Carlos Tusquets insensitively sparked controversy through his own remarks yesterday, when admitting that, economically-speaking, it might have been better for a heavily cash-strapped Barcelona to sell their most-prized asset Messi when he had expressed his desire to leave for Manchester City in the summer.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt may be his personal opinion and I respect it, but Leo has one more year on his contract and has to say [whether he wants to be sold]. I don\u2019t like to pass comment on all the comments there are about it,\u201d Koeman stressed.<\/p>\n
Koeman\u2019s men are nine points behind Atletico Madrid, following the 1-0 loss to them at the Wanda last month, and he was asked whether Diego Simeone\u2019s side are favorites to lift the La Liga title for the first time since 2014.<\/p>\n
\u201cAtletico is a strong team,\u201d Koeman admitted, \u201cbut it\u2019s a long season, and we have to keep fighting every game and try not to lose matches. We have to see the positives by trying to win matches and not lose points.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lastly, on the much hoped for and keenly-anticipated reemergence of crowds at stadiums in Spain\u2019s top flight, which has been earmarked for January, Koeman said, \u201cAll countries are looking for the public to return [to watch matches], but each country has to look at it based on health. We are not doctors, but hopefully we will soon have them at the ground, though we must not force [it] because health is the most important thing in life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Credit: Football Tribe Malaysia<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman has given his feedback on key issues ranging from the recent comments made by Neymar regarding a reunion with Lionel Messi, the LaLiga title chances of rivals Atletico Madrid prior to a clash with Cadiz on Saturday and interim president Carlos Tusquets\u2019 admission that he would have sold Messi off in the summer had it been his call to do so. On tomorrow\u2019s match, Koeman said that he expects a Cadiz that will give Barca a \u201clot of the ball\u201d. \u201cThey seem to be having a hard time winning at home, but they\u2019re getting good results, and it\u2019s a tricky ground where we have to be … Continue reading “Koeman addresses Neymar\u2019s hints on Messi and interim President\u2019s selling of Messi comments”<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":86,"featured_media":23875,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1639,1640],"tags":[1248,124,1737,593,359,1283,2168,2237,95],"class_list":["post-24987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe","category-european-leagues","tag-atletico-madrid","tag-barcelona","tag-la-liga","tag-lionel-messi","tag-manchester-city","tag-neymar","tag-paris-saint-germain","tag-ronald-koeman","tag-slider"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/86"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24987"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24987\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24988,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24987\/revisions\/24988"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}